Chuck vs the Last Can of Cranberry Sauce
by P.J. Murphy
Summary: Everybody gathers for a Thanksgiving feast, but Chuck insists on contributing to the meal with some unexpected results.  Spoilers up to "Chuck vs. Phase Three".  One-shot, T-rating mildly pushed.  Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!


_Hello there. I have now come full-circle. My first holiday story was last Christmas, and now I have added the last holiday in the rotation: Thanksgiving Day. This is a good day to say what we're thankful for, of course. And I want to thank everybody who has read my stories over the last eighteen months. Hopefully, I've been able to write stories that were entertaining and fun for you._

_This story takes into account everything up until the most recent episode, "Chuck vs. Phase Three." Spoilers for you if you haven't watched up to that episode yet._

_I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and you spend it with the people you care about most. (And if you could leave a review, I'd be thankful for that, too.)_

* * *

_**Echo Park  
November 25, 2010  
8:45 AM**_

Sarah smiled and stretched in the bed. They had been back from Thailand for several days, and she was thankful they brought her Chuck home. Her last barriers were finally down, and she told Chuck how much he meant to her. How she could never live without him; that she wasn't even the same person without him.

She started her Thanksgiving a few days early, but she wasn't minding it a bit.

It was only appropriate today was that holiday. Never in her life did she have more to be thankful for. She had more friends now than she had in her entire life put together and she was part of the most successful team of agents the government had, but the majority of what she was thankful for was sleeping peacefully next to her right now.

_Mmm, I have to put a stop to that_, she thought with some rather lascivious ideas running through her mind.

She gently slid on top of him and starting kissing his neck. Her body glided along his, and the nightshirt she wore the prior evening…one of his shirts, actually, rode up to her waist. Her hot breath tickled his ear as she sucked his earlobe in her mouth and grazed it with her teeth. Her hands slid under his shirt and caressed his chest. He gently moaned, and she looked at him as his eyes slowly opened.

And there was that smile. That smile she could look at every day for the rest of her life and still not tire of it.

"Hey, beautiful."

Sarah grinned as she gave him a deep, loving kiss. "Good morning."

Chuck's hands gently caressed her. "Now this is undoubtedly the best way to wake up."

Sarah playfully ground against him and raised a devilish eyebrow. "_Up _being the operative word."

Chuck laughed. "Mmmm, you know what I feel like doing today?"

Sarah grinned. "What?'

"I want to help Ellie with making Thanksgiving dinner."

Sarah paused. That wasn't what she had in mind. "Baby, your sister is taking care of everything today, and I already have our dish made she requested."

"Yeah, but I always feel guilty about just sitting around. Any time I ever tried to help her in the kitchen, she always shoos me out. I want to do something more to contribute than just load the dishwasher afterwards."

"Chuck, I'm sure she has everything under control. Besides…" Sarah said as she kissed him again and slipped off her shirt, "…I could use you for a few things right now."

Chuck looked up at her naked form and sighed. "Mmmm, you do present a good argument. Well, technically, two good arguments."

Sarah laughed and playfully smacked him with a nearby pillow. "Pain in the neck."

Chuck started to get up. "I can do this, Sarah. I promise. I'll keep it simple. I'll just call Ellie and see if there's anything she missed."

Sarah exhaled. She really wanted to spend the entire day in bed with Chuck and not have to worry about going out until it was time to go to Ellie's. But Chuck did have a point about helping his sister. She could understand Chuck wanting to do this for everything Ellie did for him over the years.

"OK, Chuck. But don't make a big production of this. You have to work at the Buy More tomorrow, and I want some quality time with you today."

Chuck gave her a kiss. "I promise."

He went to call his sister while Sarah went to take a shower.

_**Echo Park  
November 25, 2010  
2:00 PM**_

Sarah knocked on Casey's door. She wanted to take care of this before they went over to Ellie's.

Casey opened the door. "Walker, you didn't have to worry about me trying to duck out of Thanksgiving at Ellie's. I figured she would drag me over by my ear if I tried to hide on her."

Sarah smiled and shook her head. "Actually, I was here for something else, and it really wasn't for everyone's ears."

"What is it?"

Sarah gingerly handed Casey a wooden box. Casey looked at it in confusion before opening it. Inside was a set of throwing daggers and an ankle holster.

"I don't understand, Walker."

Sarah was quiet for a moment. "It was something you reminded me of before I kicked you in that holding cell and took off after Chuck."

"Walker, I know why you did it. You don't have to…"

"Please, John. Let me finish. You said I was acting more like Langston Graham's wildcard enforcer than a worried girlfriend. And you were right. I used to be like that. I was actually proud of it. But now…I wanted Chuck back more than anything. And what I had to do in order to make that happen…I can't write it off as the ends justifying the means. I want to leave that part of my life behind because that isn't me anymore."

She pointed at the box she gave Casey. "I figured you of all people would appreciate taking those from me. Those were the first weapons I bought when I started, back when I was just the Agency's lapdog. But I'm much more than that now, and you're part of the reason why I am. I'm glad you've been my partner on this job. You made sure I knew why we do this, something I forgot for a long time. And I'll always be grateful for that."

Casey was silent for a moment before he gave the most minimal of smiles. Relative to Casey, it was a bigger smile than one of Chuck's ear-to-ear grins. "Hey, you gotta have your partner's back, right? And you've watched mine quite a few times, even when I put what I wanted over the job. So it's only fair I do that for you."

Sarah smiled as well. "This is a good Thanksgiving for both of us, isn't it?"

Casey nodded. "You're right. This one feels a lot different."

"Ready to take on Ellie's extravaganza of food?"

Casey gave a grunt of approval. "Better believe it."

Sarah gave a little laugh as they went for the door and walked across the courtyard to Ellie and Devon's apartment. Sarah knocked, and Ellie answered.

"Sarah? Do you think you can talk to Chuck?"

Sarah was confused. "What's going on?"

"Chuck called this morning and asked me if I forgot anything. I told him to pick up a can of cranberry sauce. But…maybe you should look for yourself."

Sarah looked a bit concerned as she walked through the apartment. Casey went to join Devon, Morgan, and Alex on the couch to watch football as Sarah approached the kitchen.

Chuck was jumping all around in the kitchen, attempting to measure different things. Somewhere along the way, he must have downed a dozen cups of coffee.

"Chuck? What's going on?"

"No, this is fine, Sarah. This will be even better than just buying cranberry sauce. I looked online, and the recipe is easy!"

"Did Ellie tell you to make the cranberry sauce from scratch?"

"Well, no. But I went to Von's, I went to Albertson's, I went to Ralph's, and everybody was out of cranberry sauce. But that's OK! The recipe says you just need orange juice, sugar, and cranberries. I can make this."

Sarah couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Chuck! Why didn't you just call Ellie and tell her you couldn't find any cranberry sauce?"

"Sarah, I'm not completely incompetent. I can make cranberry sauce. Besides, it'll be more of a homey touch."

Chuck turned back to the recipe. "OK, should be ready for the orange juice now. Just have to mix that in…"

Chuck went to the stove with the orange juice and lifted the lid on the pot he that was cooking. Suddenly, cranberries exploded out of the pot and completely covered his shirt.

"Chuck!" Sarah jumped back in surprise.

Chuck slowly turned towards Sarah with the most incredulous look on his face. Sarah was trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Uh, Sarah? Did the recipe say anything about putting the cranberries in water before heating them?"

Sarah carefully went over to the piece of paper on the table and studied it. "Yes?" she quietly replied.

Chuck shook his head and slammed the measuring cup with the orange juice on the stove. "Of course. What the hell was I thinking?" He turned off the stove and exited the apartment. Sarah quickly followed him across the courtyard into their apartment.

Chuck angrily threw off the cranberry-covered shirt he was wearing and went into the bathroom to wash the remaining cranberries off his arms and face. Sarah stayed quiet while he returned to the bedroom and put a clean shirt on. He sat on the bed and buried his face in his hands.

Sarah sat down next to him and gently rubbed his back. "Chuck? Talk to me."

He shook his head. "I just wanted to do something. I wanted to be a part of this instead of just sitting around as…I…I just felt like things were out of my control."

Sarah looked down at the ground as well. She knew exactly what this was about. She felt a bit of shame for not thinking about this before. But one of the things she admired most about Chuck was how well he dealt with the way his life had gone since Bryce sent him that email three years ago.

She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. "I'm sorry, Chuck. De Smet took that away from you. You were held captive for two weeks. He tried to take everything you had away."

Chuck put his arms around her as well. "I should have just talked to you about it. You probably have some kind of training you went through that showed you how to deal with it."

Sarah shook her head and kissed him gently on his temple. "There's no magic formula, Chuck. We train for it, but it's nothing compared to the real thing."

Sarah was quiet for a moment before a gentle smile graced her lips. She held Chuck's face in her hands and gazed into his eyes. "Actually, you had the right idea on how to deal with it. To just get back into life and live it your way. Honestly, you handled it a lot better than the first time I was captured as an agent. It was weeks before I could go back into the field without fearing being captured again. The way you've handled it, I couldn't be more proud of you."

She gave him an ardent kiss. "You are a spy. Intersect or no Intersect, you are one of the best agents the CIA has. And I am so thankful to be in love with you."

Chuck looked into her azure eyes. The eyes from which he could always derive strength and confidence. He wondered if Sarah even knew she had that effect on him.

He gently caressed her face. "I love you, too." They kissed passionately.

"Ready to have Thanksgiving dinner?" she asked him.

He smiled. "If you can settle for green-bean casserole and mashed potatoes for your side dishes." Sarah laughed hysterically and kissed him again.

They walked across the courtyard back to Ellie and Devon's. Everybody was settling around the table to enjoy the feast Ellie prepared. Devon stood and clinked his wine glass.

"Everybody, I just wanted to thank all of you for being here to share our first Thanksgiving as a family." He turned to Ellie and smiled as she rubbed her stomach. "And I hope all of you have as much good fortune come to you as I have. I have the most wonderful woman to be thankful for, and I know she is carrying the most wonderful daughter a father could have."

Ellie raised her glass. "I am thankful for my wonderful husband, and my family and friends. And I am especially thankful that I will be a mother in a few months."

Ellie looked down the table. "Morgan?" Casey, who was sitting on Ellie's immediate left, gave her an odd look. "Usually, you like us to skip you, John."

Casey shook his head. "Not this year. I want to say I'm thankful for the people I work with, the people who are here I consider my friends…" he tipped his glass at Alex, who was sitting across from Morgan, "…and for my daughter."

"And I'm thankful to Casey for letting me date her without cutting off any of my appendages," Morgan quickly added, which elicited laughter from the group.

Alex spoke up next. "I'm thankful for everyone here, especially my father. And I hope I can continue to be part of your lives, because it is an honor and a privilege to be with you."

Sarah raised her glass. "I am thankful for my partners-in-crime, John, and Morgan. I am thankful to have met Alex, who is probably more like her father than either of them care to admit. I am thankful for Ellie and Devon, who have let me be part of their family." She paused as a tear came to her eye. "And I am most thankful for the funniest, sweetest, most wonderful man I have ever known." She turned to Chuck and gave him a passionate kiss.

"God, get a room, willya?" Morgan quipped to laughter from everybody and a grunt from Casey.

Chuck stood up. "This has been a difficult year, with what happened to our father, with our mother leaving us again. But like The Beatles said…or Joe Cocker, whomever you prefer…I got by with a little help from my friends. The people I see in front of me. Especially this amazing woman sitting right next to me. And until the crazy fog lifts and she realizes who she's really dating, I'm going to be totally in love with her and do whatever it takes for her to be happy."

Chuck and Sarah kissed again. Devon raised his wine glass one more time.

"Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!"

"Happy Thanksgiving!" everyone replied as they clinked their glasses together. Devon started carving the turkey as the side dishes were passed around the table. Chuck stared in shock.

"Where did this cranberry sauce come from?"

"Casey had an extra can in his cupboard," Ellie replied.

Chuck glared at him. "Now you tell me."

Casey shrugged. "Try asking next time, moron."

"Moving on! Moving on," Sarah quickly interrupted. "Pass me those potatoes. I'm hungry."

Everybody settled down to eat.


End file.
